The Council of the European Union has appointed Johann Sattler as EU Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the EU Council said in a statement. Sattler will replace Lars-Gunnar Wigemark in the post of Head of Delegation of the European Union.
Wigemark was appointed in 2015 and Sattler will assume office on September 1, 2019. To begin with, he has been appointed for a two-year term, the statement said.
His mandate is based on the main goals of EU policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely further progress in the stabilization and association process, ensuring a stable, sustainable, peaceful, multi-ethnic and united state that cooperates peacefully with its neighbors, ensuring that BiH is irreversibly on the path to membership of the Union.
During his career and as the current Austrian ambassador to Albania, Sattler has placed special emphasis on the Western Balkans. Prior to that, he headed the Austrian Foreign Ministry’s Western Balkans department and was also active in the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe in Brussels. From 2008 to 2013 he worked as a media manager in Moscow.
Sattler studied Political Science and Slavic Studies at the University of Innsbruck and completed the diplomatic academy in Vienna in 1996, entering the diplomatic service in the same year. In 2008 he received his doctorate from the University of Vienna.
EU Special Representatives promote EU policies and interests in specific regions and countries as well as issues of particular concern or interest to the EU. They play an active role in efforts to consolidate reform, stability and the rule of law. The first EU Special Representatives were appointed in 1996. Currently, eight EUSRs support the work of the Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, according to the EU.
